Special Report No 2/86 on the ERDF's specific Community regional development measures (non-quota measures) accompanied by the Commission's replies
Date: 1986-07-10
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: EU action, European Regional Development Fund, operational programme, regional development, regional policy













EUR-Lex - 31986Y1020(01) - EN






Avis juridique important




|



31986Y1020(01)

Special Report No 2/86 on the ERDF's specific Community regional development measures (non-quota measures) accompanied by the Commission's replies  


Official Journal C 262 , 20/10/1986 P. 0001 - 0019 





<(BLK0)LA ORG="CCF">EN</(BLK0)LA>SPECIAL REPORT N° 2/86(Observations pursuant to Article 206a (4)  of the EEC Treatyon the ERDF's specific Community regional development measures (non-quota  measures) accompanied by the Commission's replies(86/C 262/01)>TABLE> 1.   INTRODUCTION1.1.  The specific Community regional development measures, commonly known as  'non-quota measures', were instituted by Council Regulation (EEC) N° 214/79 of 6 February 1979(*)   (1). This regulation amended Council Regulation (EEC) N° 724/75 of 18 March 1975  (2) establishing  the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and, with the aim of diversifying the assistance from  the Fund, it laid down that, in addition to supporting regional policy measures taken by the Member  States (quota measures), the ERDF could finance specific Community regional development measures. 1.2.  These measures are linked with Community policies and measures in order to take better  account of their regional dimension or to reduce their regional consequences. In exceptional cases,  they may also be intended to meet the structural consequences of particularly serious occurrences  in certain regions or areas with a view to replacing jobs lost or creating infrastructures. They  may not have as their object the internal reorganisation of declining sectors but may, by  establishing new economic activities, promote the creation of alternative employment in regions or  areas in a difficult situation. 1.3.  Regulation (EEC) N° 214/79 also laid down the general framework for the adoption and  implementation of these measures. For each of them, it is the Council, acting unanimously on a  proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament, that determines, in a  specific regulation, thenature of the financial operations, the eligible areas and regions, the  national public aid taken into consideration in granting Fund assistance, the contribution of the  Fund, the categories of beneficiaries and the detailed rules for financing. 1.4.  The amount of Fund assistance, as a proportion of the total, varies according to the category  of operation planned. It generally amounts to 50  % of the eligible national expenditure for  infrastructure investments and 70  % for expenditure relating to aid and services for craft  industries and small and medium-sized undertakings incurred after the date on which the regulations  came into force. The Community aid is paid to the Member State concerned or in accordance with the  latter's instructions. Provision is also made for preventing the ERDF's quota and non-quota aid  measures being combined and for coordinating national and Community financial instruments. 1.5.  The measures are implemented in the form of special programmes which the Member States  concerned submit to the Commission for approval with a view to the granting of aid. They are  financed jointly by the Community and the Member States in question and the regulation lays down  that the amount of Community appropriations allotted to these measures shall be equivalent to 5  %  of the Fund's resources. 1.6.  The aim of this report is to describe the situation of the non-quota measures as at 31  December 1985. It consists of four parts devoted to the main stages of preparing and carrying out  the non-quota measures; they cover, in turn, the regulations setting up these measures, the special  programmes drawn up for their implementation, the financial execution of the measures and the  annual progress reports submitted by the Member States. 2.   THE REGULATIONS INSTITUTING THE NON-QUOTA MEASURES The three series of  regulations laid down by the Council2.1.  By 31 December 1985, the three series of regulations  instituting the non-quota measures had been laid down by the Council. Since the end of 1985, there  has n° longer been any legal basis  (3) for instituting new measures, but those previously decided  on must be completed or implemented in accordance with the regulations specified in paragraphs 2.2  - 2.6 below. Moreover, the new ERDF Regulation (EEC) N° 1787/84 provides for Community programmes  which are to take the place of the non-quota measures. The regulations of 7 October 19802.2.  On 7 October 1980, following the proposals put forward by  the Commission on 16 October 1979, the Council laid down a first series of five regulations [(EEC)  Nos 2615/80 to 2619/80]  (4) instituting the following five specific Community measures: (a)  development of certain French and Italian regions in the context of Community enlargement; (b) overcoming constraints on the development of new economic activities in certain zones of  Belgium, Italy and the United Kingdom adversely affected by the restructuring of the steel  industry; (c) overcoming constraints on the development of new economic activities in certain zones of the  United Kingdom adversely affected by the restructuring of the shipbuilding industry; (d) improving security of energy supply in certain Italian regions by way of improved use of new  techniques for hydro-electrical power and alternative energy sources; (e) improvement of the economic and social situation of the border areas of Ireland and Northern  Ireland. 2.3.  Taking into account the various Member States concerned, these regulations set up a total of  nine special programmes involving a total estimated contribution on the part of the Community of  220 Mio ECU. The duration of these special programmes was specified as five years, starting from  the 60th day after the date on which the regulations entered into force, i.e. until 15 December  1985. The regulations of 18 January 19842.4.  The six new proposals put forward by the Commission on 19  November 1982 led to the adoption by the Council on 18 January 1984 of a second series of  regulations [(EEC) Nos 214/84 to 219/84]  (5) which either amended some of the previous regulations  or instituted new measures, as specified below: (a)  amendment of the 'enlargement' measure in order to strengthen and supplement the planned  system of aid; (b) institution of a measure contributing to the development of certain regions of Greece in the  context of enlargement; (c) amendment of the 'steel industry' measure in order to strengthen and supplement the system of  aid and to extend it to new zones in Belgium, the FR of Germany, France, Luxembourg and the United  Kingdom and to other zones yet to be defined in connection with the programmes for restructuring  the steel industry; (d) amendment of the 'shipbuilding industry' measure in order to strengthen and supplement the  system of aid and extend it to new zones in the FR of Germany; (e) amendment of the 'energy' measure in order to strenghthen and supplement the system of aid and  extend it to new zones in Greece; (f) institution of a measure to help to overcome constraints on the development of new economic  activities in certain zones adversely affected by the restructuring of the textile and clothing  industry in Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. 2.5.  The Community's estimated contribution for this second series of regulations is 724 Mio ECU  and it covers 25 special programmes which will expire on1 April 1989. The time-limit for carrying  out the programmes provided for by the previous Council regulations of 7 October 1980 was also  extended until 1 April 1989, except for the regulation relating to the border areas of Ireland and  Northern Ireland. The latter was amended only by the regulations of 17 December 1985, which  extended the period of time for carrying out the programmes until 25 February 1991. The regulations of 17 December 19852.6.  A third series of proposals was submitted by the  Commission to the Council on 21 December 1984. Since the regulation providing the basis for the  Council's adoption of this third series of measures n° longer applied as of 1 January 1985, as a  result of the entry into force of the new Fund Regulation (EEC) N° 1787/84, it was only after the  latter had been amended that the Council adopted the third series of regulations  (6), on 17  December 1985. These relate to 10 special programmes, due to expire on 25 February 1991, and  involve an estimated Community contribution of 144 Mio ECU; their effect is to: (a)  extend the 'shipbuilding industry' measure to new zones in the FR of Germany, France and  Italy; (b) extend the 'textile and clothing industry' measure to new zones in the FR of Germany; (c) amend the 'border areas' measure in order to strengthen and supplement the system of aid and  extend it to new districts in Ireland and Northern Ireland; (d) institute a measure contributing to the development of new economic activities in certain zones  in Denmark, the FR of Germany, France and the United Kingdom affected by the implementation of the  Community fisheries policy. (*) The footnotes appear together at the end of the report.  ObservationsChanges in the content of the regulations2.7.  Seen as a whole, the main feature of  these series of successive regulations is a considerable extension of the zones in question, the  types of operation eligible for aid and the time-limits for implementing the special programmes. 2.8.  The 'steel industry' measure, initially instituted in certain regions in Belgium, Italy and  the United Kingdom, has been extended to other zones in the United Kingdom, the FR of Germany,  France and Luxembourg and to other zones yet to be defined in connection with the programmes for  restructuring the steel industry; the number of categories of operation eligible has risen from six  to nine. A similar trend can be seen for the 'shipbuilding industry' and the 'border areas'  measures; in the latter case, the number of categories of eligible operations has been increased  from seven to fifteen. 2.9.  At the same time, however, it has proved difficult to carry out the measures decided on  initially and, in the majority of cases, the part of the programmes which had been carried out by  the end of 1985 still fell far short of what had been forecast (for more details, see paragraphs  4.1 - 4.9 below). This situation has resulted in the extension of the time-limits set by the first  series of regulations for the implementation of the programmes; the amending regulations adopted in  1984 and 1985 extended these time-limits from the end of 1985 to 1989, and even to 1991. The amount of the Community's estimated contribution2.10.  The estimated Community contribution to  each special programme, each measure or each series of measures is not formally stated in a  specific document. In the case of the measures decided on in 1984 and 1985, the Commission's  estimates, which were included in the explanatory memorandum accompanying its proposals, were  subsequently amended when these regulations were being adopted by the Council, but the final  estimates were not set out in a document. Since they are an important element of the financial  programme, it would be appropriate for the estimates to be set out in a specific document. Entering of commitments in the accounts2.11.  In the first series of Council regulations adopted  on 7 October 1980, it was laid down in Article 5 (5) that budgetary commitments relating to the  implementation of the special programmes were to be decided by annual tranche in accordance with  progress made. The second and third series of regulations of 18 January 1984 and 17 December 1985  specified that, both for the new measures and for the earlier measures still to be completed, the  first tranche was to be committed at the time of the Commission's acceptance of the special  programme and the commitment of subsequent annual tranches was to be made according to budgetary  availability and progress made on the programmes. 2.12.  The data in the Commission's accounting documents do not therefore constitute a record of  the total expenditure to be provided for for the implementation of the special programmes, but only  of the annual tranches, so that the information contained in them is incomplete. Once the special  programmes have been approved - and a decision has thus been taken to grant Community aid - the  corresponding estimate of total expenditure should be given in the financial documentation. 2.13.  It is all the more necessary to review the arrangements in question as the new Fund  Regulation extends their field of application to cover all the financing for each programme,  including national programmes of Community interest. So there are grounds for expecting an increase  in the number of programmes approved without any estimates of the corresponding expenditure being  recorded in the financial documentation. The arrangements for paying the aid2.14.  The 1980 regulations laid down that 'on production by  the Member State concerned of written evidence that the special programme has already occasioned  expenditure under an annual tranche, the Fund may, at the State's request, make an advance of 30  %  of the appropriations committed'. When the amount of this advance has been exhausted and when the  Member State has forwarded to the Commission a statement certifying the operation and the existence  of detailed supporting documents  (7), further successive advance payments may be made, each of 30   % of the appropriations committed for each annual tranche. 2.15.  The 1984 and 1985 regulations amended these provisions. For the new measures, as well as for  the earlier measures still to be completed, they provide that from the beginning of operations an  advance of 60  % of the contribution concerning the first annual tranche may be granted, according  to progress made with the operations and budgetary availability. When the Member State has  certified that half of the first advance has been spent, a second advance, of 25  %, may be paid.  For the subsequent annual tranches, advances may be paid under the same terms as soon as operations  have commenced. The balance of each annual tranche is 'paid at the request of the Member State when  it has certified that the operations corresponding to thetranche in question may be considered  finished, and on presentation of the amount of public expenditure which had been committed'. 2.16.  The payment arrangements therefore make extensive use of the payment of advances and of  global certificates provided by the Member States. Even for the purpose of settling the balances,  however, these certificates involve a considerable degree of inaccuracy. 2.17.  As things stand at present, the practice of paying large advances has not accelerated the  implementation of the programmes, and the rate at which they are being implemented is still  inadequate (for further details, see paragraphs 4.1 - 4.9 below). 2.18.  Moreover, in a system of global certificates such as this, it is essential for the  Commission to make the maximum use of the possibilities at its disposal, especially the Member  States' annual reports, so as to check more thoroughly on the way the programmes are being carried  out. As will be seen further on, however, maximum use of these possibilities is still far from  being the case. 2.19.  In view of the complexity of the measures and the major role played by the national and  local authorities in their management, the administrations concerned ought to have made a greater  effort to inform and instruct potential beneficiaries, in order to ensure correct interpretation of  the regulations' aims and methods. 3.  THE SPECIAL PROGRAMMES COVERED BY THE NON-QUOTA MEASURES The approved  programmes3.1.  The non-quota measures are implemented in the form of special programmes submitted  by the Member States to the Commission. These are approved by the Commission after it has consulted  the Fund Committee. The programmes contain an analysis of the situation and of the needs relating  to the objectives of themeasures, the operations proposed, the timetable for carrying them out,  and, in general, all factors necessary to enable the programmes' consistency with regional  development objectives to be assessed. The programmes of the first series3.2.  In the context of the first series of non-quota measures,  eight special programmes were approved by the Commission (see Table 1). >TABLE>3.3.  A ninth special programme, costing 4 Mio ECU, for the steel industry zone of  Naples, which was submitted by the Member State to the Commission in March 1984, had not yet been  approved by 31 December 1985 and was in the process of being appraised. The programmes of the second series3.4.  For the second series of measures, the Commission  approved 10 special programmes (see Table 2). >TABLE>3.5.  At 31 December 1985, about 10 other special programmes for Belgium, France,  Italy and Luxembourg were under consideration and were being appraised. At the same date, the  Commission had still not taken a decision on the adaptation of former programmes, as provided for  by the regulations of 18 January 1984. Observations3.6.  The audit investigations carried out by the Court of Auditors on the basis of  records and on the spot have given rise to the following observations, the first three of which are  general in content, whilst the others deal with certain special programmes. The content of the programmes3.7.  Even though the annexes to the Council regulations specify  which information the special programmes must contain, the volume of information required is so  great that the documents submitted are still not concise enough. They include lengthy descriptions  of the difficulties prevailing in the regions and in the sectors of operation in question. They  often fail, however, to provide a clear definition of the type of operations to be subsidised and  the conditions under which they are being carried out, and the objectives, in terms of the  contribution to development, are seldom expressed as quantities. The very essence of any programme  of this kind, however, is to specify the type of aid measure and the conditions under which the  measures are to be implemented, in relation to the exact aims to be achieved. 3.8.  Simplifying the way the programmes are presented should enable them to focus more on the  operational aspects, such as defining and executing the planned operations, and on the results or  lessons that these operations are supposed to lead to in terms of development, in the light of the  objectives stated in the regulations. 3.9.  In this respect, the programmes of the second series show little evidence of progress. The  documents still vary too much from one programme to another and even from one area to another  within the same programme. For example, regarding the development of derelict sites under the  'steel industry zones' measure, the United Kingdom programme specifies which buildings or complexes  are to be developed, whereas the German programme approved on the same day only gives a general  description of the projects. Under the 'textile industry zones' measure in the Netherlands, this  information is provided for the region of Twente but not for that of Helmond. These disparities  reflect an unequal degree of preparation of the various programmes or of their constituent parts. Forecasts of the programmes' impact on employment3.10.  Although the way it is expressed varies  from one measure to another, all the regulations instituting the non-quota measures agree that the  chief objective of the special programmes is to develop activities that generate employment. The  annexes to the regulations state furthermore that the special programmes must include 'a  description, as far as possible with figures, of the objectives covered by the special programme,  particularly regarding employment'. 3.11.  Nevertheless, this quantified description of the employment objectives is usually lacking in  the programmes themselves, which, particularly in the case of the 'enlargement-France' programme,  emphasise the methodological and interpretative difficulties encountered when drawing up target  figures of this kind. 3.12.  Even where a forecast in figures was available, as in the case of the 'enlargement-Italy'  programme, which assesses the increase in jobs expected from the measure as 'about 1 000 units per  year', it proved to be an estimate which was not based on any analysis. The document itself points  out that the effects of the operations on employment can be very varied in terms of both quality  and quantity and the time taken to complete them. 3.13.  The United Kingdom programmes (steel industry, shipbuilding and textiles) consider that, on  average, 100 m2 of developed site can support three jobs and this is the basis on which they  evaluate the expected number of jobs created. In fact, this hypothesis presupposes full use of the  developed sites and is based more on the potential use of the premises than on actual job  forecasts. The publication of the programmes3.14.  The Council Regulations of 7 October 1980 state in Article  3 (8) that 'once it has been approved by the Commission, the special programme shall be published  for information in the Official Journal of the European Communities'. 3.15.  The programmes have never been published in the Official Journal, mainly because of the huge  amount of work involved in translating these lengthy documents (a total of 757 pages for the  programmes of the first series, plus 134 pages of annexes) into all the Community languages. 3.16.  Now, the regulations of 18 January 1984 could be taken to sanction a simplified form of  publication, perhaps in the form of brochures and only in certain languages. They amended the text  of Article 3 (8) (except in the case of the 'steel industry zones' measure, the regulation for  which, probably through an oversight, was not amended in this respect) and they provided that 'once  it has been approved, the special programme shall be published for information by the Commission'.  This provision has likewise never in fact been applied: the special programmes exist solely in the  form of internal documents and have not been published at all. The Commission, which is rightly  concerned about how much publicity should be given to the Fund's aid measures, ought to ensure that  the special programmes are published in a suitable manner. The 'enlargement-France' programme3.17.  The 'enlargement' programme for the French regions  allocates half the finance to aids and services for small and medium-sized undertakings and half to  the promotion of innovation, craft industries and rural tourism. The document gives a very detailed  account of the situation, the desired effects and the systems of aid available in the areas of  assistance covered by the non-quota measure. 3.18.  This programme does not, however, specify any quantitative targets to be achieved and does  not make it possible to define the individual projects which are to be assisted. It basically  describes the methods to be used in the planned measures, and the assisted operations can therefore  be identified only by means of indicative surveys to be carried out on the spot. 3.19.  Problems have thus been encountered in making available the Community aid granted for  financing this programme, especially as regards justifying the actual use made of the aid. In a  report sent to the Court of Auditors of the European Communities on 18 October 1985, the French  Court of Auditors pointed out these difficulties and said that the setting up, as of 1984, of  specific bugdet headings for each Member State ought to make it possible to eliminate some of the  drawbacks inherent in previous practices. The 'enlargement and energy-Italy' programmes3.20.  The 'enlargement' programme for the Italian  regions is in fact restricted to 1981. For the subsequent period, the programme was conceived as an  'open structure', in the sense that it merely divides up the planned aid between the different  groups of operations, without specifying the location or precise nature of the latter. The  intention in designing the programme in this way was to give the regions the possibility of  participating to a greater extent in initiatives subsequent to 1981; this design, however, is  contrary to Article 3 (4) of the regulation instituting the specific measure, which states that the  programme must describe the operations proposed and the timetable for carrying them out. It has  also considerably reduced the programme's operational nature. 3.21.  The programme presented for the 'energy' measure in Italy is more complete. About 45  % of  the expenditure is for carrying out 34 projects for using biogas, 26  % is allocated to the  construction or rebuilding of 11 small hydro-electric power-stations, 22  % to wind energy and 7  %  to minor water resources. 3.22.  An on-the-spot audit by the Court in 1984 nevertheless revealed considerable internal  difficulties connected with the basically indicative aspect of the programme, which was drawn up  without all the conditions for its implementation having been settled at national level. For  several series of operations, in fact, n° decision by the programme's management body to allow the  projects to receive the financing provided for by the measure had yet been made. Some of these  projects are moreover ineligible because they are located outside the mountain areas defined in  Article 2 of the regulation. 3.23.  The projects already under way were therefore being carried out without having yet obtained  any Community financing, and for this programme as well as for the 'enlargement' programme, the  advance which the Member State had received from the Fund (i.e. 1,5 and 4,8 Mio ECU respectively)  remained frozen in the national Treasury accounts. A situation of this kind weakens the incentive  effect of the aid for the recipient, who has to undertake the projects without advances of funds  being available to him and without even being sure that he will eventually receive Community  assistance because the decision as to whether the projects are eligible still has to be taken. The 'border areas' programmes in Ireland and Northern Ireland3.24.  For the border areas of  Ireland and Northern Ireland, the non-quota measure is intended to assist the promotion of tourism  and the development of craft undertakings and small and medium-sized companies. The need to foster  cooperation between the two border areas was one of the underlying reasons for this specific  measure, but nowhere in the regulation or in the programme is provision made for a cross-border  project. 3.25.  An on-the-spot audit carried out by the Court at the end of 1983 revealed that, outside the  framework of the Community programme, some isolated initiatives had been taken in this connection,  such as jointly drawing up maps, drafting tourist brochures and organising meetings. On the whole,  these were activities that were already in progress before the non-quota measure was implemented  and which the latter's implementation had at most helped to continue but not allowed to develop. The 'steel industry zones - Belgium' programme3.26.  For Belgium, the aid measures under the  'steel industry zones' programme concentrated only on operations concerning product and  technological innovation in small and medium-sized undertakings. It is undoubtedly an ambitious,  praiseworthy scheme which, also in view of its difficult nature, receives the maximum rate of  Community assistance provided for by the regulation, i.e. 70  % of the expenditure. 3.27.  It nevertheless quickly became apparent that, despite much canvassing by the authorities  responsible, the number of undertakings that considered themselves affected by the scheme was small  and was not sufficient to enable the programme to be carried out as expected. The 'enlargement' and 'energy' programmes for the Greek islands3.28.  For the two Greek  programmes, the regulations of 18 January 1984 lay down that, unlike the other non-quota measures,  for which only expenditure incurred from the date of entry into force of the regulation instituting  the measures is eligible, expenditure incurred as from the 12th month preceding the date of entry  into force of the regulation is eligible for Fund assistance. 3.29.  This special provision is reflected in the 'energy' programme, which incorporates several  schemes that were already under way when the programme was being drawn up. For the 'enlargement'  measure, however, the programme's content is confined mainly to a statement of intentions. Even for  infrastructures, it mentions investments which still require a great deal of preparatory work,  which also means that it is not absolutely clear which expenditure is planned to be charged to the  programme. Conclusions on the special programmes examined3.30.  Whilst it is true that the very nature of the  specific measures calls for a different approach for each programme, the observations set out above  show that considerable progress can and must be made in planning the programmes. Similar operations  should be presented in a uniform manner. The timetable for carrying out the programmes should  indicate the progress of the operations themselves and should not be confined simply to stating the  expected dates of the expenditure, without, moreover, specifying whether they are commitments or  payments. The authorities called upon to participate in carrying out the programmes should be more  involved in drawing them up. Lastly, the expected results for the various types of operations and  their contribution to the set objectives should be stated more clearly. 3.31.  In fact, as the above observations show, shortcomings such as these cause a number of  delays: sometimes the administrative practices do not allow effective implementation, sometimes the  conditions for carrying out the projects are not met or else the planned operations are  insufficiently defined for them to be carried out quickly enough. 4.  THE FINANCIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NON-QUOTA MEASURES Commitments,  payments and transfers of appropriationsCommitments and payments4.1  Tables 3 and 4 show the  situation as at 31 December 1985, for the first and second series of measures respectively, of  commitments and payments entered in the accounts for the various special programmes; n° operations  have yet been entered in the accounts for the third series of measures decided on in December  1985. >TABLE>>TABLE>4.2.  In connection with the following explanations, the reader  should also refer to the detailed table in Annex I of this report, which shows the situation of  commitments and payments for each special programme according to annual tranches. Transfers of appropriations4.3.  Regulation (EEC) N° 214/79 laid down that the sum allotted to  specific measures should amount to 5  % of the Funds' resources. The time required for the  preparation and adoption of the regulations and for the approval of the corresponding programmes,  along with delays in implementation, have been such that the Commission has failed to make use of a  considerable proportion of the commitment and payment appropriations provided for this purpose  since 1978 (see Table 5). The usual practice has been to transfer unused appropriations to the  quota measures, with the exception of an amount of 40 Mio ECU of payment appropriations cancelled  in 1984. >TABLE>Observations4.4.  The under-utilisation of appropriations and the resulting  transfers are due to the considerable time taken up by procedures prior to the adoption of the  regulations and the approval of the programmes, as well as by actual delays in implementation. The time needed for the adoption of the regulations and approval of the corresponding  programmes4.5.  It took a very long time to prepare and adopt the regulations instituting the  specific measures and the corresponding programmes. This was, in the first place, due to the  duration of the procedures leading up to the Council Decision, amounting to 12 months for the first  and third series of regulations and 14 months for the second series. The time taken by the Member  States to submit programmes also accounts for the length of time taken up by the procedures. With  regard to the regulations adopted in January 1984, four programmes still had to be submitted by the  Member States as at 31 December 1985. Since the non-quota section was set up in 1979, the  decision-making process for the three series of regulations has remained incomplete as far as the  programmes are concerned, as the table in Annex II shows. This at least partly explains the  under-utilisation of appropriations which was observed. Implementation delays4.6.  There have been considerable delays in the financial implementation of  the non-quota regulations, largely because of difficulties encountered in connection with the  programmes. Commitments for the first series, the programmes for which were initially scheduled for  implementation by the end of the financial year 1985, are still only just over half of the  Community contribution, and payments are approximately one-third. The situation is n° better for  the second series, which is due for completion by April 1989, especially if the large number of  programmes awaiting approval are taken into account. 4.7.  Because of such delays, both the impact and the effect of the measures financed are blunted,  compared with the objectives set out in the regulations, which is a matter for regret. Because of  the effect of depreciation, the delays have also been accompanied by a substantial decline in the  real value of the contributions allocated. Furthermore, there is a risk that, with the passing of  time, the situations which originally influenced the choice of measures may themselves have  changed. 4.8.  Half of the total payments of 70,4 Mio ECU relating to the first series are accounted for by  payments of advances, since payments for closed annual tranches amount to 35,6 Mio ECU. Of the  first six annual tranches committed in 1981, three were still to be closed at 31 December 1985,  namely, the special programmes 'enlargement-France', 'enlargement-Italy' and 'energy-Italy'. 4.9.  The timetable for aid from the Fund for special programmes during the period 1981-1985 was  drawn up as shown in Table 6. Even allowing for the time lag between the implementation of  programmes by Member States and the recording of operations in the Commission's accounts, the Court  is obliged to note that for several programmes the amounts of the tranches entered in the accounts  at the end of the five-year period are lower than those initially forecast for the first two  years. >TABLE>Outstanding financing4.10.  Within the framework of the non-quota measures, the  various outstanding financings fall into the following three categories: (a)  out of a total commitment of annual tranches of 178 Mio ECU, 97 Mio ECU have already been paid  and 81 Mio ECU are still outstanding, this amount being included in what is usually referred to as  the 'burden of the past'; (b) out of a group of approved programmes comprising a total contribution of 490 Mio ECU, a  quantity of commitments amounting to 312 Mio ECU, which is also part of the 'burden of the past',  is still to be entered in the accounts as a commitment and will have to be paid subsequently; (c) moreover, the measures set up by the Council regulations include a group of programmes still to  be approved for a total amount of 598 Mio ECU, the commitment and payment of which should normally  be completed within the deadlines laid down for the implementation of the measures. 4.11.  This being so and as shown in Table 7, the total outstanding financing to be completed by  1991 consists of 991 Mio ECU in payments and 910 Mio ECU in commitments, of which 312 Mio ECU have  already been committed but have not yet been entered in the accounts. >TABLE>The ineligibility of certain categories of operations4.12.  As has already been  mentioned, the documentation available at Community level is general in nature and it is not  possible to check the eligibility of expenditure declared by Member States. At present, such checks  can only be made on the spot. 4.13.  On-the-spot checks carried out by the Court revealed that the categories of measure shown  under the paragraph references given below, expenditure for which is included in the Member States'  declarations, did not comply with the existing provisions. Such findings should encourage the  Commission to extend the coverage of its own inspection procedures in this area, and to draw the  appropriate conclusions from them regarding the validation of the expenditure. 4.14.  Article 4, paragraph 3, of the Council Regulation of 7 October 1980 concerning the 'steel  industry zones' measure provides for a contribution from the Fund for 'the establishment or  development of consultancy firms or other bodies for management or organization matters by means of  direct or indirect aid'. Operations financed under this heading in the United Kingdom definitely  related to services provided by consultancy bodies or similar firms. However, the bodies or firms  concerned are included in the list of companies recognised by the administration, which includes  most internationally known firms of specialist consultants. In this case, aid from the Fund only  complies to a very limited extent with the objective of 'the establishment or development' of  consultancy firms or other bodies laid down by the regulation. 4.15.  Article 4, paragraph 4 of the same Regulation provides for a contribution from the Fund for  'the establishment or development of common services for a number of undertakings'. Article 5,  paragraph 1 (e), section V, specifies that Community aid should cover 'part of the undertakings'  expenditure on the operation of these services'. Operations financed under this section in the  United Kingdom concerned the reimbursement to a firm of accountants of expenditure on management  consultancy services for twenty commercial bodies. Such operations do not correspond to the  objective of the Regulation, which is to help small and medium-sized undertakings obtain access to  a pool of shared back-up services so that they can carry out management, training, research or  business development activities. 4.16.  A similar observation can be made concerning the 'establishment or development of common  services for a number of undertakings' in Ireland (Article 4, paragraph 7 (c), of the Regulation on  'border areas'). The expenditure declared under this heading consisted essentially of lump-sum  payments made to a state-run entity responsible for export promotions, as a Community contribution  to its incidental expenses (trade fairs, business development trips and promotionalsales). Aid  allocated in this way may well have an opposite effect to that intended by the Regulation, which is  to reduce the dependence of small and medium-sized undertakings on services provided by other  bodies. 4.17.  Also in Ireland, the expenditure on the development of transport activities (Article 4,  paragraph 5, of the Regulation) was in line with the conditions set out in the programme but  concerned development work on Sligo airport, situated in the county of the same name, which was not  one of the eligible zones. The airport was expected to make tourist access easier to other  counties, which were included in the border areas. Furthermore, the county of Sligo has become an  eligible area since the entry into force of the regulations of 17 December 1985, but this fact does  not guarantee the regularity of the expenditure, from the point of view of the provisions of  Article 2 of the Regulation of 7 October 1980 which determined the eligible zones. 5.  ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORTS Annual reports to be submitted by Member StatesThe  importance of the annual reports5.1.  At the end of each year, the Member State concerned is  required to submit a report to the Commission on progress made in carrying out each special  programme, with reference to the information stipulated in the Annex to the regulations instituting  the non-quota measures. These reports are meant to enable the Commission to satisfy itself that the  special programme is being carried out, to observe its effects and to establish that the different  operations are being carried out consistently. 5.2.  The importance of such reports for the administration of the non-quota measures has already  been mentioned. They are the only documents designed to enable the Commission to check that each  special programme is in fact being implemented, since the other documents which the Member States  are required to submit concerning the progress achieved in implementing the measures are general in  nature. Annual reports available5.3.  Table 8 shows the annual progress reports which had been sent to the  Commission by Member States by 31 December 1985 and which only concern programmes begun as part of  the first series of regulations. >TABLE>ObservationsCompliance with the obligation to present an annual report5.4.   Table 8 shows that the legislation providing for the submission of an annual progress report could  have been applied more strictly. 5.5.  In the case of the 'enlargement-France' and 'energy-Italy' programmes, which were approved in  June 1981, the first report was not submitted until the end of 1982. Similarly, the second report  submitted for France was drawn up on the basis of the situation at 1 May 1984 and the 1984 reports  for the 'enlargement-Italy' and 'energy-Italy' programmes had still not been submitted at 31  December 1985. 5.6.  It should be noted in this respect that the regulations do not stipulate a time-limit for the  submission of these annual reports. The content of the annual reports5.7.  There are even greater differences between the methods used  to draw up the progress reports than between the programmes themselves. Some documents include list  of projects receiving aid, at least as regards the main categories of operations, whilst others  only contain overall expenditure figures, or even allocations of appropriations, and the available  information on the implementation effects of the programmes is vague and is supplied only  sporadically. 5.8.  The reports do not distinguish between expenditure already made and expenditure which is  still to be effected. For example, certain amounts are drawn up on the basis of tenderers' bids.  From an examination of the documents, n° distinction can be drawn between commitments, payments and  balances outstanding, whereas such a distinction is essential in order to trace the financial  implementation of the aid that has been granted. 5.9.  None of the reports provide enough information for the reader to be able to trace the  financial implementation by annual tranches, or to find out which ofa Member State's tranches are  finished and whichtranches are still to be closed. Comparisons with the forecasts for the programme  are incomplete and superficial. 5.10.  The last report for the border areas of Ireland shows the yearly expenditure and the  cumulative expenditure since the beginning of the programme, broken down by type of operation and,  in several cases, by project. Comparisons with the amounts appearing in the preceding year's  reports reveal differences which may be explicable but for which n° explanation is given. Such  comparisons cannot be made in the case of the reports on the border areas of Northern Ireland, nor  the other United Kingdom reports, which only give the cumulative amounts of expenditure. The  reports for the 'steel industry and shipbuilding-United Kingdom' programmes and for the  'enlargement-France' programme do not give any breakdown of expenditure by project. 5.11.  On the basis of the instructions given in the Annexes to the regulations instituting the  non-quota measures, the Commission should draw up a standard model for the preparation of annual  reports, specifying the exact information required in order to evaluate the progress of operations,  the justification of expenditure and the implementation effects of the programmes. 5.12.  The aim of the annual reports is not to supply mainly useful general information to account  for Community activities: they are supporting documents for the implementation of the programmes  and should, in particular, allow a comparison to be made with the requests by Member States for  payment of the balance of the annual tranches. Even in a system of global financial certificates,  such as the non-quota measures system, the Community cannot evade its obligation to satisfy itself  that expenditure is justified, and the annual progress reports should constitute one of the  essential supporting documents for this purpose. Examination of the annual reports and adaptation of the special programmes5.13.  Examination of  the annual reports should provide a good opportunity for proposing and adopting in good time any  new decisions that appear to be suitable for the implementation or, if necessary, the rapid  adjustment of the programmes. Progress still has to be made on this point also. 5.14.  The report submitted by Italy on 30 November 1982 for the 'enlargement' and 'energy'  programmes and for the programme to be proposed on 'steel industry zones' highlighted  implementation difficulties which are linked to the wide variety of measures provided for, to  differences in the provisions governing the activity of the implementing bodies responsible and to  the absence of specific national or regional legislation in some of the sectors concerned. 5.15.  As already shown in paragraph 3.27, it transpired in the case of Belgium that, as from 1983,  the programme might have certain indirect effects resulting from the interchange of ideas, concerns  and experiences but that the work itself (research and application) was less important in terms of  innovation than anticipated. 5.16.  The precise measures called for by these findings were not immediately adopted and, despite  the adoption of new Council regulations, the situation of the programmes in question had scarcely  changed at 31 December 1985. Examination of the operations implemented5.17.  In practice this examination can only be carried  out for programmes which have made significant progress. Subject to this reservation, some Member  State annual reports show that implementation tends to be concentrated on components and  infrastructures. For the 'border areas' of Ireland and Northern Ireland, 90,1 % of estimated  expenditure on operations provided for under Article 4, paragraph 3, of the Regulation (provision  of amenities and infrastructures directly linked to the development of tourism and to cultural and  recreational facilities) as laid down by the programme for Ireland up to the end of 1984, had been  implemented at that time, whereas the implementation rate for the programme as a whole reached 70,1   %. Abiding by the estimates is harder when it comes to supplying aid to craft industries (Article  4, paragraph 6, of the Regulation: 63,3  % for Ireland and 42,7  % for Northern Ireland), due in  particular to the difficulty of finding valid projects. 5.18.  Other reports, such as the United Kingdom reports on the 'steel industry' and 'shipbuilding'  programmes, quote the same implementation rate for both infrastructures and for aid to small and  medium-sized undertakings. However, in this respect the observations made under points 4.17-4.18  should be borne in mind: these observations show that the provisions governing aid to small and  medium-sized undertakings have been applied in a very broad sense, which does not conform to the  objectives of the regulations. 5.19.  The reports relating to the 'border areas' of Ireland, which are the only ones to include a  breakdown of expenditure by project, also show considerable fragmentation and diversity of  investments in the infrastructures financed, which blunts the impact of the Community aid. From a  total expenditure (with regard to Article 4, paragraph 3, of the Regulation) of 7,25 Mio IRL (i.e.  ± 5,2 Mio ECU), 215 projects were financed, giving an average expenditure of 33 721 IRL per  project. Some investments were for less than 1 000 IRL. 5.20.  There is an obvious risk that non-quotameasures may have been partly used to finance  investments which, due to the small amount involved, did not qualify under the quota measure  section of the Fund, for which a minimum of 50 000 ECU per project was required. 6.  CONCLUSIONS 6.1.  The non-quota measures have met a need for  diversification of the activities of the Fund. The innovative nature of these measures should have  prompted the Commission and the Member States to pay greater attention to the problems involved in  their implementation. 6.2.  Hitherto, the implementation of these measures has been characterised by considerable delays  which greatly reduce the results achieved. In the first place, the preparation and adoption of the  regulations and the examination and approval of the programmes proved to take up an extremely long  time. Secondly, implementation of the programmes was affected by various difficulties, due to a  frequent lack of precision and to a failure to meet the preconditions for implementation. 6.3.  At the same time the regulations have been modified by broader and broader definitions of the  operations and regions which are eligible and by the granting of considerable advances to Member  States. 6.4.  In this context, the Commission should improve its appraisal of the programmes submitted for  approval by Member States and make full use of the possibilities provided for by the rules at  present in force, so as to ensure management and supervision of the measures, notably by means of  more frequent and systematic on-the-spot checks. 6.5.  The Commission and Member States should endeavour to focus programme content more on the  operational aspects of the contributions and on the results attainable in the light of the  regulations' objectives. There is also a need for the local authorities concerned to be better  informed and more aware with regard to the design, objectives and methods of the regulations: in  too many cases, the programme proved to be a superficial document and the conditions necessary for  making it a reality were not met. 6.6.  At the financial level, management of the Commission's share of the financing still lacks a  suitable documentary and accounting framework to show current financing and the quite considerable  amounts of outstanding financing. 6.7.  The method of commitment by annual tranches, which is provided for by the regulations, should  be reviewed since it does not give full accounts for the commitments and results in carry-overs of  charges, whose amounts do not appear in the accounts. 6.8.  The Commission should also specify the content of the annual reports, so as to show what  information is required in order to evaluate the progress of operations, the justification of  expenditure and the implementation effects of the measures. Even in a system of global financial  certificates, such as the non-quota measures, the Commission is responsible for justifying  expenditure. In this respect, the annual reports should be essential documents and the information  which they are required to contain should be precisely stated, so that they can be used as a tool  for assessing the eligibility of the expenditure and for carrying out any on-the-spot audits of  expenditure. 6.9.  The above observations are all the more deserving of the Commission's attention as the new  ERDF Regulation puts greater emphasis on financing by programmes, so that it is essential that the  lessons to be learned from the experience of non-quota measures should be put to good use. This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting  of10 July 1986. For the Court of AuditorsMarcel MARTPresidentTHE  COMMISSION'S  REPLIES I.   General comments The Court of Auditors' general remarks highlight the difficulties encountered in  implementing the specific Community regional development measures - difficulties which arise from  the innovative nature of those measures and the fact that they involve a large number of economic  operators in the assisted regions. Unlike investment in industrial or infrastructure projects, the aims of which can easily be  expressed in value and product terms, the special programmes are designed to encourage new and  varied activities, the precise nature and economic and social impact of which are difficult to  gauge at the time they are launched (points 3.6 to 3.31). Their chances of succeeding are similarly  fraught with uncertainty (points 5.1 to 5.20). The creation of new jobs seemed at first sight to be the easiest indicator to apply (points 3.10 to  3.13). In fact, the responses to the offers of grants made by the national, regional and local  authorities to firms to give real substance to the programmes do not depend directly on the public  authorities but on the nature of the economic fabric and the industrial traditions of the regions  concerned. It was found, for example, that small and medium-sized firms were very poorly  represented in areas affected by the decline of shipbuilding and steel. When it comes to  forecasting numbers of jobs to be created, small and medium-sized firms involved in the specific  measures are virtually incapable of setting precise and realistic objectives. They are - quite  understandably - unable to say how much their production will expand over the five-year period of  the special programmes. With regard to the counselling activities designed to assist small and medium-sized firms,  experience has already shown that the consultancy services provided may either spur the firm on or,  if the assessment is unfavourable, simply lead to the abandonment of the expansion project or even  to the takeover of the firm in question by a group from the industry in question. This outcome is  by n° means abnormal, since what the management and organization consultants are expected to do is  to make a diagnosis and produce recommendations following their analysis of the firm's capacity,  both from the viewpoint of its structures and from that of its markets. The question of whether  such firms can then achieve their directors' ambitions always depends on the quality of the  managers and the extent to which markets and products match. As to the activities to promote innovation in industry and the service sector, it has been found in  extreme cases that, while innovation may boost a firm's productivity, it actually leads to a  reduction in the number of jobs. An illustration is provided by the invention of an apparatus for  pointing brick walls, the use of which reduces a bricklayer's working time by 50  %; it may thus  help not to create jobs but to reduce labour requirements, while at the same time making the  activity profitable. Efforts to quantify the impact of innovation on employment are therefore  unrealistic in practice and in any case meaningless. Should such an exercise include, for example, the workforce of firms assisted by consultancy bodies  without an appropriate deduction being made for firms which have decided not to implement the  consultants' recommendations? Is it possible, on the other hand, to credit a specific ERDF-financed  measure those jobs which may have been created upstream through the setting-up of a new firm which  manufactures equipment or machinery invented in a centre for promoting innovation, if the ERDF has  financed only the conversion of the building housing that centre? The answers to these two  questions should, at first sight, be negative. The above arguments demonstrate clearly enough the uncertainty and difficulty of compiling  statistics for the effects of the complex economic phenomena which surround implementation of the  special programmes financed under the specific Community measures (points 5.17 to 5.20). Those  measures are intended to influence the software of the economy (spirit of enterprise, managerial  ability, innovation, assessment of potential markets) rather than its hardware (infrastructures,  physical environment, pooled facilities, etc.), which simply constitutes the internal material  support for the activities to be created, which themselves depend primarily on the application of  brain power. With regard to the Court of Auditors' recommendations at the end of its report (points 6.1 to 6.9),  it is necessary to bear in mind the conditions under which the various planning and administrative  phases of the specific Community measures are carried out. As to the length of time required for the adoption of the Regulations and the preparation of the  specific programmes (point 6.2), it should be remembered that both the Commission and the Member  States were faced with a new operational approach - the programme approach. Furthermore, many of  the operations covered by the specific Community measures are concerned with the potential for  internally generated development, a field which still requires much exploration. The fact that the framework set by the Regulations has since become more flexible (point 6.3)  reflects the experience gained from the first series of specific Community measures and will make  them more practicable, since operations would otherwise simply be blocked. As to the financial aspects (points 6.6 and 6.7), the Commission is aware that there may be a  problem of transparency in respect of the financial consequences of the political commitments that  the Community makes when it approves, for each specific Community measure, the overall indicative  volume of finance covering a period of five years. This question is being examined in a wider  context. With regard to the examination of the specific programmes and their monitoring on the basis of the  annual implementation reports (point 6.8), the Commission has not slackened in its efforts to make  improvements. Although the principle of involving the Commission in the devising and preparation of  programmes and then, once they have been approved, in their implementation has not been  incorporated into the Regulations, the Commission participates actively as far as the means at its  disposal allow. As far as the monitoring of programmes is concerned, the Commission is sympathetic  to the Court of Auditors' suggestion that a standard outline for the annual reports should be  introduced. Finally, the Commission would confirm that, in implementing the provisions of the new Regulation  that deal with programme financing, it applies the lessons learned from the first ambitious  experiment conducted with the specific Community measures (point 6.9). The Commission is aware that  there have been some difficulties in launching these measures - difficulties which have been due  largely to the new approach to the problems of regional development. II.  Comments on specific points The Commission would like to comment as  follows on a number of specific points made by the Court of Auditors: Points 2.12 to 2.14The Commission is aware that there may be a problem of transparency in respect  of the financial consequences of the Community's political commitments. It is examining this  question in a wider context. Point 3.5The Commission must obviously wait for the programmes to be submitted by the Member  States.As at 31 December 1985, the Commission had still to approve 11 special programmes: seven new  programmes and four amendments to existing programmes. Of those 11 programmes, seven have been  submitted by the Member States and are being appraised by the Commission, although some of them do  not yet cover all the designated areas. Points 3.10 to 3.13The difficulty of quantifying objectives, particularly with regard to jobs, is  inherent in the very nature of the operations to be assisted (see general comments), since the  majority of those operations are in the 'software' field. The objectives set out in the special  programmes are therefore expressed in qualitative terms or based on standard evaluation criteria  such as the normal or average rate of use of industrial sites. Points 3.14 to 3.16The Commission will publish the approved special programmes in a suitable  manner. Points 3.17 to 3.31Demands made with regard to the quantification of targets and the possibility  of defining individual projects to be assisted should be realistic and not too stringent. The point  is to promote flexibility of planning, this being implicit in the idea of special programmes. If  the Commission were to adopt too strict an attitude in this regard, that would bar the way to any  specific Community measure. Such an attitude might easily have prevented the special programmes  from being drawn up, particularly as the measures in question are designed mainly to help existing  and potential small and medium-sized firms whose weak administrative structures and uncertain  market prospects rule out the provision of precise data. The Community opted for flexibility, the key to the economic success of the exercise. The value of the specific Community measures depends on their capacity to provide support for a  wide range of operations - operations which, in the particular fields determined by the  Regulations, should contribute to the development of small and medium-sized firms, to innovation or  to the attainment of other objectives set for each of the Regulations. This approach calls for highly flexible mechanisms and an open mind for original measures, the  prime objective being to ensure that the most appropriate steps towards achieving the overall  objectives are taken and that priority is given to areas of potential development, which in some  cases are still diffuse. While such an approach is in some cases ambitious and praiseworthy (as is  recognized in some of the programme reports), it frequently leaves little scope for indicating and  quantifying the results of operations in advance. With regard to the Court of Auditors' comment (points 3.24 and 3.25) concerning the reasons for the  border area programmes in Northern Ireland and Ireland, the Commission would point out that the  prime objective of the measures taken under the Regulation was to contribute to the development of  economic activities in areas regarded as being severely handicapped owing to their location along  the frontier. It is of course hoped that closer cross-frontier cooperation in fields such as those  cited by the Court of Auditors will be one of the results of this development of areas on both  sides of the frontier. It should be added that the desired improvement in cross-frontier  cooperation is partly dependent on an improvement in cross-frontier political links - a field in  which the Commission has n° specific means of securing an improvement. Finally, there is n° requirement that operations of the same kind should be presented in a uniform  manner in all the special programmes (point 3.30). The very idea of a programme means that the  various types of operation can be presented and carried out in the manner best suited to the needs  of the area concerned, provided that the general conditions laid down in the Regulation relating to  the specific Community measure are observed. Point 4.5With regard to the time needed to draw up the programmes, the following points should be  borne in mind: - the fact that the specific measures are new to the Member States, - this has in turn meant that the drawing-up of the special programmes has presented difficulties  for the national authorities, particularly since it has involved a variety of public authorities  and such private-sector operators as small and medium-sized firms, consulting engineers, etc., - the fact that, in order to be able to approve the programmes, the Commission has been compelled  time and again to ask the Member States to supply additional information and to adjust certain  measures, to which they could respond only after they had obtained information from the regions  themselves. Points 4.6 to 4.9Many of the delays referred to by the Court of Auditors are due to the fact that  the Member States have been slow in implementing the programmes for all sorts of reasons. In some  cases, it has even been necessary to adapt national administrative structures to create a planning  and implementation framework which would meet the needs of the specific Community measures. Points 4.12 to 4.17The Commission has been careful to ensure that the documentation available  fully satisfies the requirements of ERDF provisions. It also considers that on-the-spot checks have  a really important part to play, in that they enable a better assessment to be made of certain  situations. Point 4.13The Commission has also discovered, notably when it carried out an on-the-spot check on  the special shipbuilding programme in the United Kingdom, that items of expenditure ineligible  under Article 4 (1) of the Regulation have been included in the amount of expenditure declared. Assuming that this 'extended' interpretation of the Regulation has in all probability led to the  inclusion of similar expenditure in other projects - which it has not been materially possible to  check - the Commission has requested the United Kingdom authorities to carry out a systematic check  of the items of expenditure included in all the operations covered by Article 4 (1) of the  Regulation. The Commission has therefore informed the Member State in question that it cannot make new payments  under the special shipbuilding programme until it has been informed of the findings of the  investigation requested.Point 4.14Article 4 (3) of Regulation (EEC) N° 2616/80 must be interpreted in conjunction with  Article 5 (c) and (d). Article 5 (c) clearly authorizes small and medium-sized firms to use the  services of existing consultancy bodies, also providing them with indirect aid through the use of  the services of those bodies. Points 5.11 and 5.12The Commission is favourably disposed towards the Court of Auditors'  suggestion that a standard model be used for the annual reports, particularly for the reasons given  by the Court of Auditors at point 5.12. This suggestion is currently being examined. Points 5.19 and 5.20The use of non-quota measures for financing small-scale infrastructure  projects seems to be perfectly consistent with the programme approach. N° minimum cost limit has  been laid down, and by their very nature the infrastructure projects in question frequently require  little in the way of expenditure. Thus, the provision of recreational facilities in rural areas  with n° other development prospects than an increase in short tourist stays can frequently play an  appreciable part in finding additional resources for local populations. Many of the local  authorities concerned have available only limited resources for financing such operations. (1) OJ L 35 of 9. 2. 1979, p. 1.  (2) OJ L 73 of 21. 3. 1975, p. 1.  (3) Through the application of Council Regulation (EEC)No 1787/84 of 19. 6. 1984 (OJ L 169 of 28.  6. 1984, p. 1), as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) N° 3634/85 of 17. 12. 1985 (OJ L 350 of 27.  12. 1985, p. 6).  (4) OJ L 271 of 15. 10. 1980, p. 1.  (5) OJ L 27 of 31. 1. 1984, p. 1.  (6) Council Regulations (EEC) Nos 3635/85 to 3638/85 of 17. 12. 1985 (OJ L 350 of 27. 12. 1985, p.  8).  (7) This certificate must contain the following information: (a)  the nature of the operations covered by the payment claim; (b)  particulars of the amount and nature of expenditure effected by the Member State in respect of  the different operations during the period covered by the claim; (c) confirmation that the operations described in the payment claim have been begun in accordance  with the special programmes. <(BLK0)LA ORG="CCF">EN</(BLK0)LA>ANNEX I >TABLE> <(BLK0)LA ORG="CCF">EN</(BLK0)LA>ANNEX II >TABLE>